It’s fairly rare that I enjoy a character driven novel as well as I enjoyed this book! I found it extremely interesting seeing the dynamic of this family with a set of triplets each having very different ideas of what family means. These 3 siblings couldn’t be more different or estranged. As a mother, I cannot imagine my kids in this type of relationship or lack thereof. She tried to make their childhood the best it could be but there was no family unity. The Latecomer, 4th sibling, was able to have a relationship with each of her siblings and learn from their past while learning about herself. This book is packed with everything from social injustice, to religion, privilege and dysfunction. Truly a great read!

Absolutely beautiful slow burn of a novel. I was in the perfect mood to read a deep dive character study and I found the triplets especially interesting. I don't love reading about visual art so those aspects took me out of the groove a little, but I'm aware that's a personal preference and won't be the case for every reader. Maybe a little too much talk about college but all in all I loved this book and can't wait to read more from the author.

THE LATECOMER By Jean Hanff Korelitz.

My first thought about this book is I don’t care. The second, was simply a question: Why?

Why is it so long and why do I care to finish?

I had a similar experience while reading THE GOLDFINCH, which I DNF’d, so take that for what it is.

The characters are very unlikeable and this is a character study. Which feels like meal prepping a huge amount of your least favorite food and eating it exclusively by the spoonful for an entire month.

I did not enjoy my time reading it. I did not find myself wanting to pick it up, it’s long and slower than slow.

DNF at 50.1%. That’s over 250 pages. I feel like really tried.

I loved THE PLOT and will pick up another release by Korelitz.

Thanks to Netgalley and Celadon Books for the advanced ebook and audiobook copy!

Summary:
The Latecomer follows the story of the wealthy, New York City-based Oppenheimer family, from the first meeting of parents Salo and Johanna, under tragic circumstances, to their triplets born during the early days of IVF. As children, the three siblings – Harrison, Lewyn, and Sally – feel no strong familial bond and cannot wait to go their separate ways, even as their father becomes more distanced and their mother more desperate. When the triplets leave for college, Johanna, faced with being truly alone, makes the decision to have a fourth child. What role will the “latecomer” play in this fractured family?

Review: Although the writing was beautiful, this book just wasn’t for me. I thought it was a bit too long and the middle section was slow. I do think those that like character driven novels will enjoy.

The Latecomer is a character driven, slow paced book. The tension slowly builds and each character has a fully formed feel.

While I can very much appreciate the wholly character-driven nature of this book, this one didn’t wow me. I can usually really enjoy books with mostly unlikable characters, though it wasn’t just that (most of) these characters were unlikable. It was the ways in which they were unlikable. It seemed over the top and unnecessary. Aside from Lewyn, I really despised the triplets… and Lewyn wasn’t even that standout. Phoebe was the only bright spot and when her chapters come in much later in the book, it made The Latecomer much more enjoyable… but still not enough.

The writing was really wonderful. I know I need to read this author’s other work. And I will definitely say that the narration from Julia Whelan absolutely was this book’s saving grace for me finishing it.

The narration was off for me. The first two parts read largely as 3rd person POV but occasionally an "our father/our mother" was thrown in to remind me it was actually 1st person POV from someone not born yet.

I liked that the book was split into three parts - the parents, the triplets, and the latecomer. The first part gave the background and laid the groundwork for the rest of the story. I enjoyed this first part and was invested but the characters didn't grab me. The bulk of the story is in the second part. I had a harder time with this as the characters were quite unlikable and I couldn't connect with anyone. I did still enjoy their drama from the outside but I wish I knew more about their motives and what they were thinking. I also found this part too long, it seemed to drag on I was losing interest. The final part starts tying everything together, it pulled me back in and I enjoyed the ending.

If I didn't have the audiobook as well, I likely would have DNF at some point during the second part. Thankfully the audio narration was well done. Julia Whelan gave a good performance and made it a pleasure to listen.

If you like a slow burn, mult generational, family drama then give The Latecomer a try.

The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz is the first book that I have read by this author. I wanted to love this book so much but I just didn't. It was a "meh" for me but had major potental.

I love how the story is broken into three parts, The parents, the triplets and then the third part which I do not want to get into too much detail about.

I was super invested in the parents portion but then the triplets came and I was completely turned off. I did not like any of the children and felt they were all unlikeable.

The story was long at over 450 pages and I felt that it could have been shorter and maybe more enjoyable. There are many parts that are slow moving and extremely bland. I almost DNF but luckily I had the audio book as well which definitely helped.

Julia Whelan did a great job with the narration throughout the book's journey.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Family drama/contemporary fiction is not always my favorite - but I mostly enjoyed my time with the Oppenheimers. While I do feel this book was a bit long, I did enjoy hearing from each of the siblings, learning about the father's mistress and resulting son, and the conclusion of the youngest sibling.

These characters are definitely unlikeable - I wasn't truly rooting for anyone, except maybe Phoebe at the end. Overall, it was an enjoyable read, but not one I'll be running to recommend (expect for those that contemporary/literary fiction is truly their bread and butter).

Additionally, I enjoyed the narrator and didn't find that they retracted from the story in any way.

Thank you to the publisher for the gifted ARC & ALC.

Family drama is a very hit or miss genre for me, and unfortunately this one was a miss. I know unlikable characters are a hallmark of family dramas, but I didn’t find any of the characters to be particularly sympathetic, which made it difficult to care about the events of the story. The only character I really liked was Phoebe, the titular latecomer, who didn’t appear in the story in a meaningful way until about 3/4 through the book.

The narration was confusing to me. The book is technically written in 1st person from Phoebe’s point of view, but since she was either not born or an infant throughout the first two sections of the book, Parts 1 and 2 were written primarily in 3rd person with a few disorienting phrases like “our father” and “our mother” sprinkled throughout.

This book was just too long and slow at over 400 pages. Part 3 was more interesting than the previous sections, but by then I was just trying to make it through to the end. The only reason I finished this is because I received ARCs in two formats. This book had some promising Jewish representation, but the story just didn’t do anything for me.

Note: This story has a heavy focus on infertility and IVF treatments.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and Netgalley for advanced audio copy of The Latecomer! I was so excited to receive it!
The Latecomer is a multi-generational story surrounding the Oppenheimer family, Salo and Johanna, their IVF triplets Harrison, Lewyn and Sally and the "latecomer" sibling Phoebe. Very character driven in nature, The Latecomer dives deep into many heavier issues including accidental death, grief, infertility, infidelity, resentment, privilege and race, religion and complicated family dynamics.
The Latecomer was a very different read for me in that I enjoyed the first 25% and the last 25%, but felt as though the middle 50% was very slow. That middle section of the book was entirely too long and in my opinion most of it could have been edited out. I am thankful to have had the audio version otherwise I honestly might have chosen to stop reading. The ending where things finally begin to come together was great though. I wish we got more of that last 25% where Phoebe really comes into the picture. I think there may be many readers who really relate to this one and soak it's long length in, but unfortunately that wasn't me.

The Latecomer DNF’d

I did not finish this book.
I was so excited to read and listen to this one since first, I enjoyed The Plot, second, Julia Whelan is narrating it. But unfortunately, couldn’t get into it. Although the book has a really catching blurb and the narrator is good , I felt the story was dragging for me; it didn’t touched my soul. I tried to put it down and comeback to it in another moment, that didn’t work either. For me, the amount of characters was underwhelming in the sense that none of them felt important enough, it was a lot of back and forth from the past to present and it felt I wasn’t getting the positive impact I was looking for. I’m pretty sure this book will be great for a lot of people but that was not the case for me.

Although, I didn’t got into enjoy this book to my maximum joy, I did enjoy Julian Whelan narration. I would recommend this book as an audio because of her great job.

The Latecomer by Jean Hanff Korelitz delves into the lives of an affluent Jewish family in Brooklyn. I previously read and loved The Plot, so I was excited to receive an advance copy for this one. I found it fascinating and was immediately drawn into the characters' stories, which started from the late 1960s and moved into present-day. Though the book is fairly long, it doesn't feel that way when reading it. I absolutely adore the author’s sharp writing style. I listened to the audiobook which was masterfully narrated by Julia Whelan.

Thank you Celadon Books and Macmillan Audio for providing this ebook and audiobook ARC.

Summary: The Latecomer tells the story of Salo Oppenheimer and his wife Johanna. From their first meeting under tragic circumstances, to their struggles to conceive via IVF, their lives are filled with both drama and the mundane as they try to create a happy life for their triplets Sally, Harrison and Lewyn. Facing an empty nest as the triplets go off to college, while simultaneously dealing with the secret her husband has kept for decades, Johanna decides to have another child, “ The Latecomer,” in hopes that this fourth child will help heal their splintering family.

Thoughts: Let me start off by saying I do not think this one is for me. While I often look for books rich in character development, this book was all character, and little plot. And yet at times, it felt as though there was too much going on in the plot line (not sure how both could be true at the same time, but here we are). The author does a deep dive on the relationship of a dysfunctional family, The Oppenheimers, over many years and how they tackle issues of religion, racism, sexuality, etc.

This is book is a great depiction of the age old theme of past traumas of the parents negatively impacting the lives of their children. And while that on its face is a really interesting storyline, the execution here just didn’t work for me. At times it seemed to be more stream of consciousness than a streamlined plot. It was so verbose at times, I felt myself losing track of what was actually happening from one moment to the next. I think the same story could have been told in 300 pages and would have been a much more succinct and enjoyable book, at least for me.

While it wasn’t a favorite of mine, this book does have some very positive reviews. If you are on the fence, I would check this one out especially if you are one who loves intensive character analysis and epic family dramas.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an ALC of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I was initially so excited to get my hands on The Latecomer: A Novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz. The premise seemed right up my alley, but good lord was I so very wrong.

This one is wordy...so very wordy. Unnecessarily so; where 10 words can be used, the author chooses to use 300. Things are overly descriptive and you get so bogged down in minutiae that when it is all said and done, you can't even remember what the hell the author was describing in the first place.

On top of that, the characters are horrible. There is not one likable thing about any of them, and I spent most of the book wanting to slap them. EVERY.LAST.ONE of them. They were like the absolute worst humanity had to offer, and the majority of them were from one family.

I had this one audiobook format, and unfortunately, it just wasn't that good. Don't get me wrong because the narrator's voice was pleasing and overall nice to listen to. The issue is that there were a number of characters in this book, and the narrator did the voices for them all the same. It was virtually impossible to differentiate between characters so quite often I had no idea that the character narrating the chapter had changed, and would have to restart the chapter after realizing it.

All in all, The Latecomer: A Novel by Jean Hanff Korelitz was a good idea, but a real hard slog to get through. I honestly should have listed it as DNF, but I hung on to see if it would get better. It didn't!

3.5/5 for sure.

A generation-spanning tale of the angst of families, and the legacy of broken families.

...with a twist. The Oppenheimer kids are special... test tube babies brought into the world... just not at the same time. As the three "triplets" grow up, the grow apart, sometimes even causing pain for the others. But when the fouth frozen embryo is thawed and born, could she be the key to bringing the family back together.

A complex tale where characters shine and grow, this was an enjoyable tale, and a well-narrated audio-book.

My thanks to NetGalley for the audio-arc in exchange for an honest review!

This is a very slow family drama and less mystery/suspense than last year's The Plot. Jean Hanff Korelitz writes character driven stories, descriptions, and details well and you feel like you know this family in its entirety. This story is about family dynamics, privilege, race, religion, and how some guilt you carry can resonate and stay with you for decades and the impact guilt can have in other relationships. The focus of the vast majority of this book was on the triplet siblings. They kept so much to themselves internally and harbored so many feelings of resentment, entitlement, and affliction towards the others for many years. The fourth child didn't have a huge role in the story until closer to 80% through and it was tough to connect with her voice and place in the story overall. Overall, I did enjoy much of this but thought this was a tougher read to get through since it was quite lengthy.

𝘊𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵-𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤!

What an amazing surprise, I went into this story completely blind and I was not expecting it at all. A complex family drama that touches the topics of loss, race, privilege. Flawed and well developed character, full of twists and depth, this slow burn was simply fantastic.

Thank you Macmillan Audio and NetGalley for the ALC.

I love books with family drama storylines and also really enjoyed The Plot by Jean Hanff Corelitz, so was really looking forward to The Latecomer. This book has a unique storyline and and was entertaining for the first 25% and last 40%. In the middle, I found myself losing interest. I think this book could’ve been significantly shorter while still maintaining the impact of the storyline. The audiobook version of The Latecomer is fantastic choice, as it is beautifully narrated by Julia Whalen.

Thank you to Macmillan Audio for the ALC!

This is a tale about a family, specifically the very different lives of triplets who were born in vitro and their sister who was born later. I liked the audiobook version but sometimes I had to play certain scenes more than once because I missed things. Once I got into the rhythm of it, it was easier for me to follow. It was a little in the long side, but I definitely appreciated how well it was written. The author deftly delves into the complexities of families and skillfully portrays the opinions of all three siblings. We don’t know who is actually narrating until later and it is a bit of an aha moment. The characters are all credible and realistic, and many readers will relate to the intricacies of families, the good, the bad and the ugly. The ending went in an interesting direction, which was both satisfying and heartfelt.

This sweeping family of drama and detail. It follows the Oppenheim family…starting from the beginning when Salo and Johanna, the parents, meet. It details their early relationship, their struggles with infertility and their eventual IVF that led them to having triplets. Sally, Lewyn, and Harrison, the triplets, could not be more different and didn't get along from the beginning. Meanwhile, an event from their father’s past keeps him disengaged. As the triplets are growing up, Johanna decides now is the time to have one more child, the “latecomer” to their family.

This audiobook is over 16 hours long, but because it’s narrated by the audiobook queen Julia Whelan, it’s a great listen. This story is filled with so much detail which made it feel very slow at times, but all of those details and complexities come together in a way that makes so much sense for the final 25%. It took me a bit to get into this story, and to be honest, I really didn’t fully enjoy it until the last quarter of the story. Julia Whelan really is what got me through this book.

If you enjoy discussion of art, slow burn character driven novels, and lots of family drama, this one may be for you!

Thanks to Celadon Books, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for the gifted copies.